SUMMARY: Cookie, age 35, died in August or September of 1913 after an abortion performed in Chicago.
The woman I call "Cookie," identified in the source as "Mrs. G.," was 35 years old when she was admitted to the ward for surgical obstetrics at Cook County Hospital in August or September of 1913.
This was Cookie's sixth pregnancy. She had chronic alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver.
About a month prior to her hospitalization, somebody had performed an abortion. I don't know if it was a criminal abortion or if it was performed legally as a "life of the mother" measure due to Cookie's health issues.
Cookie continued to experience problems after the abortion, so a physician performed an outpatient curettage about three weeks later. Cookie went septic and was admitted to Cook County Hospital, where she was managed with "expectant treatment," which I think means that they just kept her comfortable and hoped that the might recover. Given the success rate in treating septic abortions at Chicago's Michael Reese Hospital, Cookie's condition might not have been irreversible upon admission.
She died on the fourth day of her stay.
Source: "Two Months of Surgical Obstetrics in Cook County Hospital," Gilbert Fitz-Patrick, Clinique, V. 35 Issue 6
Possible IDs:
Mary Hill Geagan, died August 16
Mary Jedloska Golec, died August 16
This was Cookie's sixth pregnancy. She had chronic alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver.
About a month prior to her hospitalization, somebody had performed an abortion. I don't know if it was a criminal abortion or if it was performed legally as a "life of the mother" measure due to Cookie's health issues.
Cookie continued to experience problems after the abortion, so a physician performed an outpatient curettage about three weeks later. Cookie went septic and was admitted to Cook County Hospital, where she was managed with "expectant treatment," which I think means that they just kept her comfortable and hoped that the might recover. Given the success rate in treating septic abortions at Chicago's Michael Reese Hospital, Cookie's condition might not have been irreversible upon admission.
She died on the fourth day of her stay.
Source: "Two Months of Surgical Obstetrics in Cook County Hospital," Gilbert Fitz-Patrick, Clinique, V. 35 Issue 6
Possible IDs:
Mary Hill Geagan, died August 16
Mary Jedloska Golec, died August 16